Sisters’ tea business, 1% initiative is steeped in pro-life, pro-women values

What does a bluebird have to do with women facing unexpected pregnancies and challenging circumstances?

Renee Eames and Mary Crosby – sisters who grew up in Omaha and were raised in a committed pro-life Catholic family – noticed some similarities between the once-struggling bird species and the women who have struggles of their own.

In fact, they’ve built an online business around the bluebird theme that helps those very mothers.

In November, Crosby and Eames officially launched Bluebird Refuge, which combines a pro-life, pro-woman tea shop with an initiative that invites people, businesses and organizations to donate 1% of money to life-affirming pregnancy resource centers in their communities. The 1% could be derived from income, total sales, a brand, a service or a product.

The sisters, daughters of Deacon Pat and Rosie Lenz of St. James Parish in Omaha, said the bluebird’s story has important pro-life lessons.

At one time the eastern bluebird species faced devastatingly low population numbers. But thanks to a movement of supporters who have provided nesting sites and restored food supplies, the bluebirds have rebounded and are thriving.

Mothers facing challenges need a movement of support, too, the business owners said.

“What can we accomplish for women when we unite?” the sisters ask on their business website. Bluebird Refuge aims to help with that effort.

The bluebird – a symbol of hope and joy for struggling women – “lets us know that spring will come, even if the winter seems endless,” according to Bluebird Refuge. “Even if the winter seems impossibly bleak. Even if winter is hanging over us and hiding the sunshine, the bluebird sings its tune and reminds us spring will come.”

EXPERIENCE

The business and pro-life backgrounds of Eames and Crosby helped inspire and enable their endeavor. 

Eames has a master’s degree in business and 15 years of experience in human resources and compensation, along with seven years of homeschooling her children. She and her husband, Aaron, and their two children are members of St. Mary Parish in West Point.

Crosby has 20 years of experience in nonprofit management, marketing and graphic design. Fifteen of those years were dedicated to serving women who were experiencing unexpected and under-supported pregnancies, volunteering for organizations such as Nebraskans Embracing Life and 40 Days for Life, and working for Bethlehem House and Essential Pregnancy Services.

She and her husband, Dr. Justin Crosby, and their four children now live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

COURTESY PHOTO

Living in two different states hasn’t created any major roadblocks for the business co-founders.

“It’s been a really beautiful thing to work together as sisters and to be able to spend more time and dream about what God’s plan is for us and for our communities,” Crosby said.

The women incorporated their business as a benefit corporation, which enables them to make decisions based on key stakeholders, “meaning we can focus on making decisions that will impact the women that we’re hoping to serve, women in motherhood,” she said.

While their vision for their business is a model for a community, she said, they hope to expand it nationally.

ACCOMPANYING WOMEN

Their business stresses accompaniment, a term Pope Francis has used. It involves a self-sacrificing way of spending time with people, listening and offering support.

Bluebird Refuge especially emphasizes “accompanying women in the life stages of pregnancy and parenting. We aim to encourage people to gather within their homes and communities, creating spaces for tea and conversations that foster genuine companionship.”

The tea portion of the business is pro-life and pro-women because every time someone buys a pouch of tea, Bluebird Refuge donates its book, “9 Days of Refuge: A Personal Retreat Awakening Hope,” to a woman in need.

“The book itself does not mention abortion,” Crosby said. “It doesn’t really mention motherhood either. It’s really focused on a healing journey for any woman who is able to pick it up.”

The nondenominational retreat book leads readers into Scripture. A helpline number is included that can connect women anywhere in the United States, even the most rural areas, to needed resources.

Bluebird Refuge also seeks to empower donors “right now, where they live” to make a difference in women’s lives through its 1% for Women Initiative.

The initiative aims not only to raise funds for the pro-life pregnancy and parenting resource centers but to raise awareness, too.

“I think that there is a great opportunity for business owners to set a Christ-like example for not only their employees but any patrons as well,” Eames said, “because by being a part of 1% for Women, they have the opportunity to – in a nonconfrontational, natural way – to share all that is available for women during pregnancy and motherhood.”

HOPE

By raising awareness about resource centers, employers not only assist women reaching out for help, but they help “unseen women” too, Crosby said, “the women who are struggling and going at this alone.”

Those unseen women might be part of an employer’s workforce, Crosby said, and “having that visibility really will help direct women to the right help and to know that it exists for them.”

When Crosby worked at pregnancy resource centers in Omaha, she realized the importance of hope – a lesson from the bluebird story – especially for mothers facing unexpected pregnancies or parenting challenges.

“Spring always follows winter,” she said. “Just as harsh winter seasons come and go, spring comes with the right people walking into your life and being life-giving voices that can be present to help you get through that difficult season.”

People don’t have to work for a pro-life organization to make a difference, Crosby said. Accompanying people in need is essential, she said. “Everyone needs that, and everyone can do that.”

The pro-life, pro-women movement requires everyone’s help, she said, “not just to change hearts and minds, but to really transform them. And that transformation happens with love. When you lead with love and accompaniment, it’s genuine.”

“We want to be that strong voice and presence,” Crosby said.